"Will your action necessitate fighting?' our representative queried.—"There wil! be no fighting at the present time," said Gen. Lu. "We will simply refuse to recognize or take orders from the Peking Government. We have our independence, Of course, we cannot say what will happen inthe future. So far as Wwe are concerned," he continued, there will be no military operations just now."
"Will Tsao really take over the presidency?"—"Yes, he will. Vsao Kun would be much wiser, however, if he refused to enter Peking and remained in Paoting, whence he could issue a statement declining the presidency. This he will not do, because he has spent too much money."
"What, then, will you do about the situation?"—"We shall have to await developments. Meanwhile, we will maintain our independence. We hope that the Press and the people will continue their agitation."
"And how about Li Yuan-hung? Should he remain in Shanghai?"—'"He would be better away from Shanghai. He has proved himself art unsuitable man for the Presidency. He is not strong enough. He wanted to establish a third government and tried to obtain our approval, but we refused, because another government in China is unnecessary. There are already too many. Why should Chekiang join with him iv establishing a new government? Anyhow, Li Yuan+hung
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.